La La Land (2017) Review

Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is very passionate about jazz music, but it seems like no one else is.Mia (Emma Stone) is a striving actress trying to find her big break. When fate keeps bringing them into contact with each other, a relationship ensues. Also in this is John Legend, as Keith. Directed and written by Damien Chazelle.

From watching the trailer, it gives off a very enthusiastic and fun mood, however, that may be slightly deceiving as the movie goes through a range of emotions. Some will be unexpected, and that is what makes this film so great. A must watch till the end, even though the beginning half may be a bit slow, it is worth it. If they had cut out some details or made the beginning half a little shorter, then it would have been perfect.

The musical numbers are plenty, and all very well executed. I absolutely love the soundtrack. Here is a movie based entirely around the musical element, and it is phenomenal. As I write this now, I’m listening to the soundtrack. As all (or most I presume) of the songs are original, they are able to create the song to suit each character. Not only that, but choreography throughout is simply amazing. Those like the beginning scene is simply to initiate the audience as to what they are getting into. Others like the tap dancing scene with Gosling and Stone,are infused with feeling and flirtation.

The cast is perfect. Gosling and Stone complement each other so well – they were previously paired in Crazy Stupid Love.Gosling is such a versatile actor; just looking at his IMDb history is so impressive. He can encompass a range of personas, and is great at portraying characters with a lot of passion. Stone is also quite a versatile actress, and it is hard not to like her.

I heard from my friend that there area also quite a lot of distinguished dancers in the movie, and that doesn’t surprise me. It is a musical after all, and that requires great dancers, not just great actors and actresses. So overall, everyone did their parts extremely well and was able to bring a lot of energy to the story.

What makes this such a classic, is that it pays homage to many eras in the Hollywood film industry. There is a bit of film noir, quite a few scenes depicting the silent era, there is of course the sound era, and the introduction of technicolor, and what makes it so classical is the fact that it mimics the style of Singin’ in the Rain. What with the musical numbers, and also the self-reflective aspect of the story. While in Singin’, the characters were actually making a movie, in La La Land, they show some behind the scenes of how Hollywood is like. There is also quite a few instances where characters break the fourth wall, and this is done so smoothly that it doesn’t really affect the diegesis. The ending scene as well, is very much like the one in Singin’, though produces a different effect.

Overall, this film is definitely a new classic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone I knew was saying how good it was, and I can’t agree more.

To sum-up:PROS: Acting, style, music, choreography, screenplayCONS: First half is a little long, no diversity

I give this a 9/10,

Have you seen La La Land? Rate it out of 5 stars above or leave a comment below!

P.S. Now that I think about it, there isn’t much diversity in the film (in terms of race). Also, there aren’t many female characters with a lot of lines.